The Nu Days of Sun
by Ulysses Quanta
Summary: In the years that followed the crowning of Alola's first Champion, Sun, Lillie, Hau, Gladion and their friends had many different adventures in Alola and beyond. These are their stories. One shot collection with USUM spoilers.
1. A New Day Dawns

_Author's Note: So this is sort of a remaster of my first ever Pokémon story, The Days of Sun. It is a one-shot collection and is unrelated to my Cybersun project. People wanted to see this switched to third person so that is what I'm doing as well as fixing up some of the grammar, but everything else like the capitalized Pokémon names, the scene changes and the weird dialogue will remain the same, for to pretend that I didn't write like that is to hide how much I have come along as a writer._

 _And no, I did not mispell new in the title. It'll make sense come chapter 4._

 **A New Day Dawns**

The sun began rising behind Mount Lanakila as the champion watched as the Silvally collapsed in front of their Primarina, too beaten down to continue.

"Close, but no luck unfortunately," Sun said to the man in front of him. He pulled a hand up to his face, but Sun could see a small smile peeking out from behind it.

"Almost had you. The training is paying off," Gladion admitted. Sun quickly healed Primarina and returned her to her Poké Ball after throwing her a Poké Bean. Gladion was healing Silvally as he walked up to him.

"So how long you staying for this time?" he asked him. Gladion turned his head to look at him.

"A couple of weeks. Then I'm heading back to Johto. Need to take on Jasmine and Pryce yet," he admitted.

"So do you mind coming to a festival in Iki Town for a while then?"

"Sorry, I don't do festivals." He returned Silvally to it's Poké Ball.

"You won't need to do any dancing or interacting, but I think you might want to see Lillie undergo her Grand Trial." That got Gladion's attention.

"Grand Trial? Lillie's a Pokémon trainer?" he asked Sun. Sun nodded his head.

"Yeah, she's undergoing her Grand Trial to earn herself a Z-Ring. She's still not overly keen on battling, but she's getting there. Me and Hau have been accompanying her since we've done it already. She had gotten the Normal Trial done when I got the call that I had a challenger," Sun told him. Gladion cocked his eyebrow in response.

"Hau's accompanying her? You I can understand, but Hau? Did she bribe him with malasadas or something?" he asks, causing Sun to chuckle.

"Probably. You'll see when we get there," he told him, walking down the stairs to where the entrance to the League was. Hearing footsteps behind him, Sun knew he was interested in going to the Grand Trial.

"So, Gladion. While we are on our way to the festival, can you tell me about how your journey through Johto has gone so far?" he ask as he called up Charizard from the Ride Pager. He saw the blonde boy nod curtly as the Flame Pokémon landed in front of him. After they both climbed aboard Charizard and took off, Sun heard Gladion start talking. "So it started once I hit New Bark Town..."

 _Half an hour later, on the Mahalo Trail..._

"...So she threw a tantrum because you beat her and refused to give you the Gym badge until after she stopped crying? Wow," Sun said to Gladion.

"She probably wasn't expecting Silvally to take out her Miltank in one hit," he admitted. Sun shook his head.

"Here we are. Iki Town. It looks like they are almost about to start," Sun observed. "You sure you don't want to-" He turned to say to the person next to him, but he's already disappeared into the brush. He sighed and shrug, and began making his way into Iki Town, where Hau was waiting for Sun.

"Hey Sun! I thought you'd never make it!" Hau called. Sun smiled and walked up to him, exchanging a high five with him.

"Wouldn't miss this for the world. Where is the lady of the hour?" Sun asked, scanning the people around the stage. There didn't seem to be any sign of her anywhere.

"She's on her way here, she just went to fetch Kukui since he's lost track of time again," Hau explains. Sun sighed and covered his face with his hand.

"He's probably researching moves again. Crazy man wants me to bring Necrozma to him so he can research Light That Burns The Sky for some reason," he told Hau, who laughed in response. Before he can say anything else in response, a large man took the stage.

"Today, we are here to see a trial goer attempt the Grand Trial of Melemele Island! As the Kahuna of Melemele Island, I, Hala, will be facing off against the challenger, Lillie, of the Aether Paradise!" Hala calls out to the crowd as they erupt in cheers. Sun began scanning the crowd again, worried that something may have happened to Lillie. To his relief, he spotted her next to Kukui and Burnet. She seems nervous, but then again, he wasn't surprised. This is her Grand Trial. He watched as she walks up onto the platform to take the stage, ignoring Hau tapping him on the shoulder to tell him that she is there. She looked around and quickly spotted Sun and Hau, and starts smiling as Hau frantically waves at her and Sun smiled at her.

Somewhere in the brush, he knew Gladion's smiling too.

"This will be a two on two battle! The winner will be determined by who is able to knock out all of their opponent's Pokémon first. The Kahuna cannot switch their Pokémon out, but the challenger is permitted to switch their Pokémon!" Kukui called out.

"...I can do this. I have my Pokémon and I have my friends with me. I can do this!" Lillie said to herself.

"Ho! I have been expecting you. Allow me to properly greet the young adventurer embarking on their island challenge. I am Hala, the kahuna of Melemele Island," Hala announced to Lillie.

"Shall we begin? The final trial here on Melemele Island will be a Pokémon battle against me, the kahuna! Lillie! You have chose to walk this path despite your reservations about it! Regardless of the outcome of this match, that is a huge step for you. Now show me you and your team's full power!"

"Mankey, let's go!" Hala roared, releasing the Pig Monkey Pokémon who yelled in response.

"Comfey, come on out!" Lillie called, sending out the Posy Picker Pokémon who did an elegant spin.

"Mankey, use Focus Energy!" Hala ordered.

"Comfey, Calm Mind!" Lillie ordered. Both Pokémon stayed still as Comfey started clearing his mind while Mankey started focussing his mind.

"Set ups? Huh," Hau noted while Sun looked on. Seemed like Lillie had taken the advice he'd given her on board.

"Mankey! Use Poison Jab!" Hala ordered, causing him to dart forward and smash into Comfey sending him flying backwards. Comfey was able to get back up, but looked hurt.

"Critical hit. Not good." Sun observed. Lillie had a brief look of worry on her face, but it quickly disappeared and a look of determination appeared in it's place.

"Comfey, use Dazzling Gleam!" she ordered, causing Comfey to glow brightly as he formed a rainbow sphere around his body and crashed into Mankey, earning a howl from the Pig Monkey as he was sent flying backwards from the blow. Sun smiled.

"Poison Jab again!"

"Comfey, use Draining Kiss!" Lillie called out. Comfey darted forward and blew a kiss at Mankey, who let out an agonized growl before slumping to the ground. Comfey did another spin, looking much healthier now.

"Triage..." Hau whispered to himself. Sun's smile grew wider. She had gotten better.

"Mankey is unable to battle! The winner is Comfey!" Kukui called out. Comfey floated over to Lillie and hugged the girl as the two celebrated knocking out Hala's first Pokémon.

"Nice work. But I'm not beaten that easily. Let's try this instead. Hariyama, let's go!" Hala yelled, sending out the Arm Thrust Pokémon.

"Comfey, take a break. You've earned it," Lillie told the Pokémon as she returned it. She pulled another Poké Ball out.

"Ribombee, come on out!" Lillie threw the Poké Ball out, allowing the Bee Fly out to battle.

"Hariyama, Fake Out!" Hala called. The Pokémon's hands began to glow orange as he moved towards Ribombee, before clapping them together to release a shockwave of energy, knocking him back and stopping him from moving.

"That's not good," Sun mused.

"Ribombee, use Reflect!" Lillie ordered, causing the little Pokémon to produce a rainbow coloured barrier in front of him.

"Hariyama, perform a Brick Break." Hariyama flew at Ribombee and delivered a blow that broke through the barrier and struck the Bee Fly Pokémon, knocking him backwards.

"Now, follow up with Fire Punch!" Hala yelled. Without a moment's hesitation, Hariyama covered his fist in fire and struck Ribombee before he could react, sending him flying past Lillie.

"Ribombee!" Lillie called. The Bee Fly Pokémon managed to stagger up and take flight again, evidently hurting from the blows.

"Ribombee can't take much more... She needs to end this now!" Sun muttered to himself. Noting Lillie's worried look, he called out to her "Hey! You still got this, so keep going!". She looks to where me and Hau are standing. Hau's grinning and waving at her to encourage her. Sun nodded at her. She understood.

"I got this. I got this! Hala, this is my-" Lillie begins to shout but stops at the sight of Hala's Z-Ring.

"Hariyama, let's finish this! Channel Brick Break...Into All Out Pummeling!" Hala roars, striking all of the poses for the Fighting Type Z-Move. Sun closed his eyes, not wanting to see the merciless assault on Ribombee. He could hear the impacts as the multiple blows slammed into him...

"Wait, why does that sound so weak?" Sun asked, opening his eyes. He saw Hariyama standing after delivering the final blow. And Ribombee...

Was still going. It looked severely drained, but it was still up.

"I was worried you wasn't going to get that up in time. Good work with Protect, Ribombee!" Lillie tells the Fairy, who does a loop in response.

"Impressive work, Lillie! You have gotten strong indeed," Hala comments.

"I had good teachers. Now, let's go! Ribombee, Dazzling Gleam!" Lillie commands. Ribombee charged at the Hariyama as a rainbow coloured sphere formed around him.

"Hariyama! End this with Fire Punch!" Hala orders. Covering his fist with fire once again, Hariyama charged at the Ribombee. The two Pokémon collided in the middle of the stage, causing a blast to erupt from where they were. The crowd couldn't see anything through the smoke.

"Ribombee!"

"Hariyama!"

The smoke began to clear. As it did, they saw that both Ribombee and Hariyama were on the ground. Neither one looked like it was going to move.

"Ribombee and Hariyama are both unable to battle! The result is a draw! Lillie is the victor!" Kukui called out. Ignoring him, she ran onto the stage to check on Ribombee.

"Ribombee, are you okay?" Lillie asked the Bee Fly as she knelt by him. He got to his feet and took off to fly in front of Lillie's face, before hugging her and letting out a short "Bee!" to show he was okay.

"That's great news! You take a nice long rest," Lillie told him, returning him to his Poké Ball. She stood up as Hala approached her, returning his Hariyama.

"...Hmmph! The results come as no surprise to me. What a fine Trainer...and what fine Pokémon, too!" Hala announced. He pulled a Z-Power Ring out of his pocket.

"Accept this Z-Power Ring with the Fightinium Z-Crystal! It allows Trainers to share their power with their partner Pokémon!"

"Th-thank you Hala!" Lillie stammered out. Hala smiled at her.

"Observe, Lillie. If you wish to use the Fighting-type Z-Power, move your arm like this... then bend your hips like this and pose!" Hala said as he performed the Fighting type dance.

"Now then, Lillie! With this victory... you have cleared all of the trials of Melemele Island, the first of Alola's islands! Congratulations on your victory!" Hala told her as the crowd started cheering. Sun and Hau made their way through the crowd to where Lillie was stepping down from the stage.

"Lillie, that was amazing! You've done better than me, I couldn't beat gramps on my first go!" Hau rushed out as he went to glomp Lillie. Lillie moved out the way, causing Hau to crash into the ground.

"Smooth, Hau. Real smooth," Sun said as he went to high five Lillie. She returns it with a smile. "Nice work there. You held up well against Hala and earned yourself a Z-Ring. Everyone's gonna be proud of you," he told her.

"Thanks, but Ribombee still got hurt..." Lillie trailed off.

"Remember what I told you, they can take a lot more punishment than you might think. He's still able to fly, so he should be okay," he reassured her. She looked at me with uncertainty as Hau got back to his feet.

"Yeah, he still flew around, so he's fine! Come on, let's go get some celebratory malasadas!" Hau said, trying to pull Sun and Lillie along.

"Actually, I need to borrow Lillie for a bit. Go on without us," Sun told him. He pouted but went off anyway.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He just gestured to her to follow him and walked towards the Mahalo Trail. They walked up to where Sun last saw the boy, only to find he's not there.

"Where is he?" he muttered to himself. He could see Lillie's not far behind, so he need to get him out here now. He threw a Poké Ball into the air, letting out a purple Pokémon.

"Poipole, can you look for him in there?" Sun asked, striking his pose before gesturing to the brush. The Ultra Beast spun around and flew into the brush.

"What's going on, Sun?" Lillie asked him

"You'll see," he said as they heard rustling in the brush

Followed by "Will you quit jabbing me? I'm going, I'm going!" as a blond haired boy tumbles out the brush in front of them, Poipole flying out laughing afterwards. Sun held out a hand to help him up as Lillie just stared at him in surprise.

"Your Ultra Beast is very persistent," Gladion grumbled before getting glomped by Lillie.

"Erk! Uh... Hey Lillie."

"Gladion! Did you see it? Did you see my Grand Trial?"

"Yeah, I was watching. Congratulations on earning a Z-Ring," Gladion tells her earnestly. Sun smiled at the siblings reuniting.

"When did you get back?" Lillie now asks, releasing Gladion from her hug.

"Just this morning. Went to challenge Sun and then he dragged me here," Gladion says, giving Sun a pointed look.

"You brought him here to see me do my Grand Trial?" she asks. He nodded. Before Sun could turn away to go towards the stairs so he coulf head after Hau, Lillie leaps and glomped him as well.

"Wha? Oh, erm, it's not a problem?" he said, wanting Lillie to let go as Gladion is now looking at him with a smirk. It reminded Sun of a Pancham who's about to do something mischievous.

"Can we get going? Hau's gonna eat all the Malasadas if we don't," Sun pleaded. Lillie finally lets go and walks on ahead as Sun looked at Gladion, who promptly covers his face with his hand.

"...Trust you to make her happy without even realising it," Gladion mutters. Choosing to ignore the remark so as to not ruin Lillie's celebration ahead of us, Sun returned Poipole to it's Poké Ball.

"You coming along with us?" he asked. The boy shrugs and starts walking after Lillie. Sun looked up at the sky above him to see a spark of electricity darting past far in the sky.

Evidentally, the battle had pleased Tapu Koko. Hopefully that was a sign of good things to come.

...

 _Character Ages:_

 _Sun: 13_

 _Hau: 14_

 _Lillie: 14_

 _Gladion: 15_

 _Author's Note: So the ages are here to demonstrate how long it has been since the end of Ultra Sun and Moon in the story and because while writing this, I was paranoid about the characters being too young for romantic stuff (I had a month's experience writing fanfic when I first started this, so I didn't know that romance was fine for teens). In this chapter, it's been a year since the events of USUM._

 _I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know what you thought in the review section and remember to leave a favourite and a follow!_


	2. Unlocking the Light Within

**Unlocking the Light Within**

"There," Sun said, stepping back to admire his handiwork. All the Z-Crystals he had managed to obtain over the course of his journey were laid in a circle pattern around the centre of the Altar of the Sonne. In the middle of them was the mysterious Necrozma.

Sun knew that it was capable of achieving the powerful Ultra Necrozma form with the help of Solgaleo or Lunala, but he had a theory about a possible way to achieve that form without the use of either of those two.

By using the Z-Crystals that the creature seemed drawn to in addition to artificial sources of light for it to drain, Sun believed it could achieve that form without causing danger for the inhabitants of any of the worlds.

And the reason he had chosen the Altar of the Sonne? It had been where Necrozma had initally entered our world from, which meant it had ties to this place, and it was out of the way, so no innocents were at risk of being caught up in the experiment. And since Sun had captured it while on his way through Mount Lanakila, if anything went wrong, he could return it immediately.

Sun finished his preparations and called out to Necrozma to see if it was ready. The creature nodded at him.

"Is everything set up and ready to go?" he called to the Aether scientists that were fussing around the lights. They stuck a thumbs up at me as well. Sun looked to Hau and Gladion to see if they were ready to go. They nodded as well.

"You sure you can do this? You only recently got the Z-Ring, we can get Illima or Molayne to help us with it instead if you can't," he asked the blonde girl to my left. Lillie just nodded and looked ahead.

Time to see if this theory was right.

They began with Sun performing the Normal type Z-Move dance, then Hau followed up with the Fighting type. Slowly, we worked our way through each type, attempting to fire up the crystals to get them to work with Necrozma.

Finally, it was time to perform the Ultranecrozmium Z-Move dance. As a group, we all performed the dance, finished that up and looked at the Necrozma.

It was glowing, with the Z-Crystals slowly floating up around it. The light panels they had set up were starting to flicker.

 _It's working!_ Sun thought to himself.

They watched as Necrozma continued to glow brighter, drawing the Z-Crystals in closer to it...

"Sun, the power's spiking too much. You need to return Necrozma." one of the Aether scientists warned.

"It can do it, just hang on!" Sun yelled back. Necrozma seemed like it was almost there...

Only for the light panels to shut off with a magnificent bang, startling Necrozma and causing the group to flinch, as well as causing the Z-Crystals around it to fall down.

Sun lowered his arm from his face and took in the scene. The generators that were powering the lights were smoking, and Necrozma had a look of confusion on it's face. Gladion and Hau were still standing, but both looked noticably exhausted. Lillie had fallen to her knees out of exhaustion from performing so many Z-Moves.

 _Was that training we did for nothing?_ Sun thought.

"Sorry, Sun. It was too much strain on the generators." Sun sighed in frustration, holding a hand out to pull Lillie to her feet. Gladion glared at him.

"So all this was for nothing then?" he asked, unknowingly echoing Sun's thoughts. Sun shook his head.

"No, we just need to locate a stronger generator to power the lights. We almost had it that time," he said, pulling out a Poké Ball to return Necrozma, who seemed a tad put out by another failure.

"It'll be fine! Come on, we need to gather the Z-Crystals up for next time!" Hau told Gladion, who rolled his eyes but followed the boy to where the crystals had fallen. Sun turned to Lillie, who looked drained.

"I warned you it might be a bit much for you." he told her. She just shook her head.

"If it's to help Necrozma, we've got to try right?" Sun shook his head now.

"Even so, you just got that thing. You should be taking time to get used to Z-Moves," he warned her. She shook her head and pouted, and he just threw his arms up in the air in defeat. It was easier to fight a Celesteela with a Zigzagoon than it was to change her mind when Lillie set her mind on something, Sun had found.

"Come on, we gotta go help Gladion and Hau gather the crystals up," he told her, and so they made our way over to where the two boys were gathering the crystals up from where they had fallen, Gladion's Lucario and Hau's Incineroar helping them with the effort.

"Sorry guys. Guess I overestimated how much light Necrozma needed," Sun conceded.

"It's fine! We'll just have to try again another time," Hau reassured him. Gladion looked at Sun for a moment before looking at Lillie to check to make sure she was okay.

"Just shout me when I'm needed, gonna be in Alola for a bit longer now anyway," he said. Sun nodded his head and picked up the last crystal, the Normalium Z. They put the Z-Crystals back in the pocket of Sun's bag and he put the bag back on his shoulders. He looked at the Aether Scientists and gave them a thumbs up, and they turned around to pack up the equipment.

"We'll meet back here in a week to try this again. Make sure you rest and keep training, we almost had it." he told the others. Hau called up his Charizard through his Ride Pager.

"Gladion, can you make sure Lillie gets back alright? I fear it took more out of her than she's letting on," Sun asked. The blonde opened her mouth to complain but stopped at the looks she was getting off of Sun and Gladion. Gladion nodded and turned to his sister, who, after a few moments of looking annoyed at the prospect of being looked after, sighed and smiled at Gladion. The siblings then walked off, heading down the stairs of the Altar.

That left Sun.

The boy turned to the spot where Necrozma had been, and looked up the Altar, to where the portal it had emerged from had opened all that time ago.

"We'll get this right. We'll get you back to your original form, I promise." Sun muttered to himself. He turned around and began to walk off the Altar, heading down the steps.

They knew what to do now. They just needed to keep trying.

...

 _Ages for the characters:_

 _Sun: 14._

 _Hau: 14._

 _Lillie: 14._

 _Gladion: 16._

 _So this was actually the first one shot ever written for The Days of Sun, but I felt that A New Day Dawns worked better to explain where Lillie got her Z-Power Ring from, hence why it was the first chapter._

 _I hope you enjoyed this. Be sure to leave a review telling me what you thought as well as a favourite and a follow!_


	3. The Student vs the Master

**The Student vs The Master**

Sun was sat in the middle of the platform in the Lake of the Moone. Eyes closed, legs crossed, he meditated, considering new move combinations to be implemented as he waited. They had told him to wait here, Dulse and Zossie had. Apparently, someone wished to face Sun in order to test how well they had improved over time. Sun could never turn down a challenge, but they had told hum to come here, for the challenger didn't want to challenge for the title. They simply wanted a battle. His mind flickered through recent opponents as he waited. Gladion, Hau, Guzma, Hapu, even Lusamine. He assumed the challenger was a child from the Pokémon Trainer's School, but that didn't explain why they wanted Sun to come all the way out here to face them.

Possibly they wanted some nice aesthetics for their battle.

Footsteps began echoing around the area. Someone had arrived. Sun opened his eyes to see Zossie and Dulse in front of him.

"Alola, Sun," Dulse says as he and Zossie do their version of the Alola greeting.

"Alola," Sun said as he returned the greeting. "So, you two are the ones who wish to battle me?"

"No, but the person who does is right behind us. We just wanted to ask if we could watch!" Zossie says excitedly. Dulse looked at Sun expectantly.

"Of course. Spectators are welcome," he told them as he got to his feet. "But who's my opponent?" Sun asked. They walk to either side of the platform without answering. Sun took a few steps back so that when the opponent did appear, we can battle straight away.

A few moments later, a person walks up the steps.

Blonde hair.

The white outfit.

The Z-Powered Form.

"Lillie," Sun said, a smile breaking out on his face at the sight of her. "You want to battle with me?"

"Yeah, I do. I think I'm good enough to keep up with you now," Lillie says. Her eyes are filled with determination. Sun nodded, and pulled out a Poké Ball.

"How about this. Two Pokémon each. First person to lose all two loses," Sun told her. She nodded and did a fist pump.

"Very well. Rotom?" Sun called out. It flew out of his bag and started floating in front of him.

"Yes, zzt?"

"Would you be able to record this battle?"

"Certainly! Who's the opponent?" Rotom turned around and spotted Lillie.

"Lillie? Well I'll definitely record this! Zzt zzt!" Rotom flew to where Zossie is standing and begins recording.

"Oh and Sun? Don't hold back," Lillie told him. He nodded.

"Very well. Froslass, go!" Sun yelled, releasing the Snow Land Pokémon.

"Comfey, come on out!" Lillie yelled, releasing the Posy Picker Pokémon who did an elegant spin. Comfey soon spotted Sun and looked back at Lillie in confusion.

"We are going to defeat Sun today, Comfey," Lillie told him. Comfey nodded and did another spin.

"Froslass? Don't go easy because it's Lillie. It would be disrespectful not to show her our full power," Sun told her. Froslass smirked and folded her arms, signalling to Comfey that he will get the first move.

"Comfey, let's begin! Calm Mind!" Lillie ordered. Comfey stayed still as he began to clear his mind.

Sun's smile vanished. "Froslass, Toxic!" he ordered. Froslass fired a stream of purple liquid at Comfey from her hands which dispersed into a cloud, enveloping the Fairy type.

"Oh no, Comfey!" Lillie yelled. The cloud cleared, showing that Comfey had been poisoned.

"No time to waste. Froslass, Hex!" Sun ordered Froslass produced a sphere of black energy with a red eye in the middle.

"Comfey, Dazzling Gleam into the Hex!" Lillie called out to Sun's surprise. Comfey formed a rainbow coloured sphere around himself and charged straight into the sphere, causing it to detonate in Froslass' face. The smoke soon cleared, revealing Comfey to have taken severe damage from the Hex, while Froslass looked extremely irritated from having her Hex destroyed prematurely.

"Froslass, Hex again!" Sun ordered again. With unbridled fury in her eyes at the Posy Picker for embarrassing her, Froslass grabbed Comfey and formed the Hex around him, before the eye of the sphere launched multiple blue rings that flew around the orb before flying into the red eye, causing it to implode with full force, this time with Comfey at the center of the move.

"Comfey!" Lillie yelled out. Comfey appeared through the smoke, barely able to move. Sun pulled out Froslass' Poké Ball, knowing that Froslass needed time to calm down from Comfey causing her Hex to blow up in her face, especially since Comfey was basically finished due to Toxic.

"Froslass, enough. Comfey's-" Sun was cut off by Froslass firing off an Ice Beam at Comfey, knocking him out. Sun glared at Froslass.

"That was uncalled for," he scolded her. Froslass glared back at Sun before letting out a cathartic giggle. He shook his head in annoyance at Froslass and returned her before applying medicine to Comfey to help him with the wounds.

"Sorry, Lillie. Should've warned you, Froslass does not like people making her look stupid, especially in battle," he told her apologetically. Lillie didn't respond until Comfey flew over and hugged her, showing that he was okay.

"That looked painful," Dulse observed.

"Are there really mean Pokémon like Froslass? I thought most of them were nice!" Zossie said.

"Froslass, well she's one of a kind. She is nice, but she can be overconfident in her power and she doesn't like her opponents making her look stupid," Sun explained. Dulse nods in understanding as Sun looked at Lillie, frowning in concern. She has a worried look on her face as she pulled out another Poké Ball.

"Ribombee, come on out!" she said, releasing the Bee Fly Pokémon.

"Lillie... I'm sorry. Primarina, go!" Sun yelled, releasing the Soloist Pokémon. This time, Primarina looked at Sun in confusion.

"Prima, we are facing Lillie to see how good she's gotten. Do not hold back," he told her. She let out a cry of "Rinaaa!" to show she understood, before smiling at Ribombee and Lillie.

"Primarina, use Dazzling Gleam!" Sun ordered. Primarina covered herself in a rainbow coloured sphere and charged at Ribombee.

"Ribombee, use Protect!" Lillie called out. Ribombee threw up a green sphere to block the Dazzling Gleam, causing Primarina to back flip out of the move and land on her tail.

"Ribombee, use Dazzling Gleam!" Lillie ordered.

"Prima, Dazzling Gleam again!" Sun ordered again. Both Pokémon covered themselves in rainbow coloured spheres and charged at each other, crashing into each other. However, Primarina managed to overpower Ribombee and sent it flying backwards.

"Now! While he's off balance! Prima!" Sun called, before activating his Z-Power Ring.

"Sing like you've never sung before! Channel Sparkling Aria... ** _Into Oceanic Operetta!"_** " He roared as he struck the poses for the Z-Move. Prima stood upright on her tail and began to sing, forming a giant water bubble above her head...

...And far above it, Ribombee was hovering, with a smirk on his face.

"Ribombee! Use Protect and drop into the water bubble!" Lillie called out. The Bee Fly Pokémon formed a green shield around his body and did a backflip before dropping into the Z-Move, the impact knocking it into Primarina and causing it to detonate on her. Sun looked on in shock as Ribombee flew back to Lillie looking a little worse for wear. Primarina looked hurt, but stood back on her tail, bowed to Ribombee and laughed, clearly appreciating the irony of being hit with her own Z-Move while complimenting Ribombee and Lillie on their counter.

"What?! How did she do that?" Zossie asked. Dulse stayed slient, in awe of what he just saw.

"You've learned to counter Z-Moves. That is impressive," Sun admitted. Lillie beamed at him.

"Thank you, Sun. I had a good teacher. Now, it's time to show you our Z-Powered Form!" she told him, pulling out her Z-Power Ring.

"Ribombee! Channel Bug Buzz... ** _Into Savage Spin Out!"_** Lillie screamed as she struck the poses for the Bug Type Z-Move.

"Prima, Protect quickly!" Sun quickly callee out. Primarina barely managed to form the green shield around herself before Ribombee cocooned her in webbing. Ribombee slammed Primarina into the ground before swinging her around and launching her into the air, moving into position to strike.

"Prima! Launch yourself to the right!" Sun yelled. He saw the cocoon lurch to the right as Primarina obeyed his order...

...Right into the path of Ribombee.

The cocoon smashed straight into him as Ribombee sliced the cocoon open, causing Primarina and Ribombee to both fall to the ground from the blow. Even with Protect up, Primarina had still taken major damage from the move while the combined damage of being clipped by Oceanic Operetta and taking a direct blow from his own Savage Spin Out were beginning to take its toll on Ribombee.

"Ribombee!"

"Primarina!" Both Pokémon staggered to their feet. Now it was Ribombee's turn to laugh at the irony as Primarina bowed with a smile on her face, content with evening the score with Ribombee by countering his Z-Move.

"Sun can counter Z-Moves too? How? The locals said they weren't supposed to be able to be countered!" Zossie shouted now, in shock at the fact that Sun and Lillie had both done the impossible.

"It must be a sign of how strong they've become. If they can counter Z-Moves..." Dulse muttered to himself. Neither Sun or Lillie paid any attention to the words of the Ultra Recon Squad, too focussed on the battle.

"Dazzling Gleam!" they both shouted. Primarina and Ribombee collided once more, with Ribombee being knocked back again.

"Do it again!" Sun yelled. Prima charged at Ribombee.

"Protect!" Lillie called out. Primarina bounced off the shield and landed on her tail again, letting her hair down with a broad smile on her face as she knew what was coming next.

It was her favourite way to end a battle, and Sun knew it.

"Now! End it with Hydro Cannon!" Sun ordered. Primarina conjured up a massive bubble before inhaling it and fired a massive torrent of water from her mouth at Ribombee.

"Protect again!" Lillie called out. Ribombee attempted to get the shield up, but failed and was blasted into the lake as a result.

"Ribombee!" Lillie yelled as she ran towards the lake. Fearing the worst, Sun let out Poipole and instructed it to retrieve Ribombee. Poipole flew over the lake and picked up Ribombee gently, who took off again after a moment and flew over to Lillie, giving her a hug to show he was okay.

"Lillie, I'm so sorry," Sun told her apologetically as he ran up next to her. She doesn't respond, as she was busy tending to Ribombee's wounds. Sun turned around and walked back to Dulse and Zossie, worrying that he'd gone too far in the battle.

"Zzt! That was a good battle!" Rotom told him

Sun shook his head. "Show's over," he told them. Rotom promptly returned to his bag.

"Is something the matter?" Dulse asked. Not wanting to talk about it, Sun threw Primarina a Poké Bean and returned her, and walked back over to Lillie without answering, who was now sat with Comfey and Ribombee, attempting to brush and clean them. Seeing how she wasn't talking, Sun stayed silent and watched her tend to her Pokémon.

"...That went about as well as I expected, to be honest," Lillie finally admitted as she returned her Pokémon. Sun didn't say anything. What could he say? He could hear footsteps moving away and getting quieter as Dulse and Zossie decided to leave them alone to talk.

"Sun, if I keep training, will I be as strong as you?" she asked him now. Sun wanted to tell her that it's not about being strong, but he knew that wouldn't help here.

"If you keep training and having fun with your Pokémon and your friends, you will be stronger than me soon," he reassured her. However, Lillie stood up and looked at him her frustration showing in her eyes.

"But it's not enough. I thought I was strong now and you beat me so easily-"

"Lillie, you are already very strong. A lot stronger than you were when we faced Team Rocket back at the Aether Paradise. Remember, you've still got a ways to go on your Island Challenge yet. I completed mine. Once you complete yours, you'll be as strong as me," Sun told her honestly. She looked like she had more to say, but then she was stopped by Poipole nudging her.

"What? Poipole, what are you-" Lillie began to ask before a final nudge by Poipole knocked her into Sun. Grabbing her arms to steady her, Sun gave Poipole a pointed look as the Ultra Beast giggled at its antics.

"You okay? Sorry about Poipole," Sun apologised before realising that she was trying to hug him. He released her arms and wrapped his around her as he heard her let out a frustrated sigh as she wrapped her arms around me. Neither of us move for a few seconds.

 _This must be why Poipole kept nudging her, she must've really needed this,_ Sun thought to himself. Before he could say anything else, she let go and walked towards the side of the platform, looking up at the sky and the setting sun. Sun slung off his bag again, and opened it up to pull out a water canteen. Unscrewing the lid of the canteen, he took a quick drink before walking over to where Lillie was stood and offering her the canteen.

"Thank you for the battle, Sun," she told him as she took the canteen off of him and took a swig, before turning to face him again. "Don't worry, we'll come back stronger than ever. Then you'll see our true Z-Powered Form!" she said happily, with eyes filled with determination.

Sun smiled and held up a hand for a high five. "I'll look forward to it. Don't make me wait too long."

Lillie smiled as well, and gave him a high five. "Don't worry, we won't."

...

 _Character Ages:_

 _Sun: 14_

 _Lillie: 14_

 _Dulse: 18_

 _Zossie: 15_

 _Author's Note: So one of the ideas I had that I definitely wanted to do was to have Sun and Lillie battle so we could see the personalities of some of Sun's team as well as implement a few headcanons I had, such as the Z-Moves being avoidable and counterable, which was based off of what I saw in the anime for Sun and Moon._ _In this rewrite, I added in the bit with the water canteen because I felt it was a small, cute moment that worked for the scene._

 _I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to leave a favourite, a follow and a review telling me what you thought!_


	4. Charizard's Counterattack

**Charizard's Counterattack**

He flew down towards the ground, close enough to begin skimming the top of the waves before the Charizard slowed and began to land on the familar platform. As he jumped off the Ride Charizard, Sun saw a second Ride Charizard begin to land. He smiled and walked over to the other Charizard as his took off.

"One of these days, I'll beat you in a race," the rider stated as he hopped off the Charizard.

"Yeah, when you learn to take reasonable risks, Hau. Crashing head first into a Wailord is not a reasonable risk," Sun reminded him. Hau laughed.

"Says the person who flew between two Gyarados using Hydro Pump on each other." He retorted. Now it was Sun's turn to laugh.

"I didn't get knocked off though. Come on, we need to get changed," Sun told him. They then walked through the entrance into the building.

"Welcome to the Aether Paradise, the home of the Aether Foundation. Mr Hau, Mr Sun, if you are looking for Mrs Lusamine, she is on the Conservation Floor." the clerk kindly explains. They both nodded, said their thanks and head for a empty room to change. Once they had changed out of their Ride Gear and into their normal clothes, they left the room and rode the elevator to the next floor up.

"Greetings, Hau and Sun," Lusamine greeted them as they stepped off the elevator. Next to her, Faba scowled at the sight of them.

"Hey, Lusamine," Sun said, ignoring Faba completely which ticked him off even more. "Any luck with Mohn?"

"We've spoken a few times, but no luck with bringing his memory back. Whatever happened in the Ultra Wormhole must've caused more damage than we thought," Lusamine said sadly. Sun frowned in concern, but nodded his head in understanding.

"But at least you guys can see him whenever, right?" Hau said. Lusamine nodded.

"That is true. We will be forever in your debt for informing us of where he currently resides, Sun," she admitted.

"He's your husband and Gladion's and Lillie's father. You guys deserved to know," Sun explained simply. Faba scowled again.

"If the old coot wasn't so stubborn we could use the Isles at the Poké Pelago to help the Foundation.." Faba began to grumble before being silenced by Sun and Lusamine glaring at him.

"That 'old coot' is my husband, Faba." Lusamine's face bore an utterly terrifying look, one that was scary enough to make a Gyarados run in fear.

"I really think you should stay quiet Faba. You don't have an assistant to protect you now," Sun warned him as he raised his hand to show him that he had Froslass' Poké Ball in his hand. Faba decided to take the sensible option and shut his mouth rather than risk having to face a sadistic Ice type with a grudge against him and the lady who could stick him on cleaning duty for a year again.

"I'm gonna go find Lillie..." Hau said slowly as he began to back away.

"Don't bother, she's not here," Lusamine snaps. Hau quickly backed away to the elevator and hit the down button on the elevator as fast as he coulf, afraid to do anything that might incur the wrath of Lusamine on him.

"I thought we were supposed to be hanging out here..." Sun begin to say as the elevator began to travel away, taking Hau with it.

"Yeah, well she's not here. Good thing too, I'd rather not deal with that brat." Faba mouths off. This time Sun didn't bother warning him, choosing to release Froslass.

"Hey, Froslass," Sun called as the Snow Land Pokémon looked around before turning to look at him with a bored expression. "You wanna play a game?" he asked her, causing her expression to turn from boredom to glee. "Say hello to your little friend," Sun told her, pointing towards Faba. As soon as she spotted him, her eyes immediately began burning with fury at the man who humiliated her so many times over the course of her adventure as she charged up a Thunderbolt.

"No! Sun, please! Call it off!" Faba shouted in fear.

"Nah. You had it coming, Faba." Sun shrugged and turned away from him.

"Lusamine, please!"

"Sun."

"What?"

"Make sure she doesn't hit the other Pokémon."

The floor was filled with many loud girly shrieks and the cries of a furious Froslass as the Foundation's self proclaimed "last line of defence" began running around the conservation floor, trying to avoid the wrath of the ghost.

 _Half an hour later..._

Froslass let out a bout of manic laughter as she looked at the trembling man in front of her.

"No... No more..." Faba said weakly as Froslass charged up another Thunderbolt.

"Enough," Sun commanded, returning Froslass to her Poké Ball. "Now, Lillie isn't here?" he asked Lusamine as he stowed the Poké Ball back in his bag.

"Yes. She wanted to arrange a movie night at the mansion here at the Paradise, but we have a meeting with some sponsors here tonight, so as a result, Professor Kukui arranged to have it at his labratory instead," Lusamine explained.

"A movie night? Haven't done those in years..." Sun muttered as he turned away to call the elevator.

"Your father's company will be one of the sponsors we are meeting tonight." Lusamine mentioned. Sun smirked as the elevator arrived on the floor.

"If that's the case, you'll probably end up meeting one of the other CEOs instead of him. Dad set off to open a new branch in another region about two weeks ago. He's very hands on when it comes to the company," he told her as he walked back onto the elevator.

"Very well. Enjoy the movies, Sun. Look after Lillie as well," Lusamine said.

Sun nodded. "Will do. Enjoy meeting with the sponsors, Lusamine. That's something I hope I never have to do," Sun joked as he pressed the button for the first floor, earning a chuckle from Lusamine. As the elevator begins to descend Sun could see Faba beginning to stand up, a relieved expression on his face despite the tremors running around his body.

"Don't worry Faba. Froslass will be back soon," Sun muttered darkly.

 _Four hours later..._

The sun had began to set as Sun arrived outside the Professor's lab. he'd gone into Hau'oli and perused the shelves at the local LVM for some potential films to watch and had grabbed a couple to suggest for them. Lillie had called on his way back to apologise and inform him of the change in plans. He'd told her it was fine and had explained to her what had transpired in the Aether Paradise.

"Froslass didn't hurt the other Pokémon did she?" Lillie had asked.

"No, but she slapped and then threw his Hypno at him before he could order an attack," Sun had admitted. She had burst out laughing at that.

"Well, as long as he isn't too badly beat up. I want to talk to him when I get back," she said. Sun had assured her he was still walking and they said their goodbyes. He walked up the door of the lab and knocked. The door was soon opened.

"Sunny boy! I beat you here this time," Hau greets him. He smiled and walked in through the door.

"So where's Lillie?" He asked.

"Up here. Getting everything set up," an annoyed voice called from the loft.

"Dude, you should see the TV Lillie has. It's huge!" Hau babbled excitedly. Sun smirked and climbed up the ladder to see a person stood behind a massive curved TV. He looked behind it and found a very frustrated Lillie attempting to wire the TV up.

"Hey, Lillie. You need some help?" he asked

"Yeah. Shine a light on there, will you?" she asks. Sun let Rotom out of his bag and instructed him to shine a light on where he was pointing.

"...Had the cables the wrong way round," she grumbled.

"I'd have thought you'd have servants to do that, Lillie. Or have Sun do it," Hau joked as he climbs the ladder, only to be scared back down by the glares me and Lillie are giving him.

"Hau, unless you wanna do anything helpful, please keep quiet and out the way," Sun respectfully warned the man. Hau immediately took the advice on board and quietly got out of the way as Sun and Lillie worked on setting up the TV.

"...And done," Sun mutters as he plugged the DVD controller in. Lillie breathed out a sigh of relief as Sun held a hand up for a high five.

"That was way more complicated than it should've been," she admitted as she high fived Sun.

"Agreed. Is the popcorn sorted out yet?" Sun asked.

"I put it in before I started trying to get this to work," Lillie responds. Before I can ask, I can hear a voice chirp from downstairs "Who left popcorn in the microwave? Hah! Hey Sun, they didn't even turn the microwave on!" Lillie donned an utterly defeated facial expression as Sun sighed and went towards the ladder.

"Probably Kukui. Set it off will you please? I'm gonna find a bowl for our Pokémon," Sun called as he descended down the ladder. He heard the microwave get turned on as he arrived in the kitchen.

"Yo, is everything alright with Lillie?" Hau asks. Sun shrugged.

"How come you weren't helping her with the TV?" he asked him.

"I was, just she was getting annoyed and I was trying to help and we had a minor setback-"

"By setback he means he dropped a DVD case on his foot, stood on my foot and then tripped over me while hopping about," Lillie's voice called from the loft. Sun tried to suppress a smirk and a giggle, and looked at him.

"...Yeah, that. But it's good that you are here, Sun. Would've been weird without ya," Hau admitted.

"Gladion still in Johto?" Sun asked. Hau nodded. "Figures." Sun opened the cupboards to find a few bowls for Pokémon. "Hau, reckon Kukui left some food for the Pokémon to eat?

 _Ten minutes later..._

They had finally gotten the TV set up and, after changing into their pyjamas, had set up a small table next to the couch for them to keep the popcorn on. Sun was sat in the middle of the couch while Hau and Lillie were sat on either side of him. Hau had attempted to sit next to Lillie, only to be jabbed and pushed out of the seat by Poipole and Ribombee, who'd then jabbed and pushed Sun into his seat, much to Hau's annoyance.

"What, you two the chairmen of the seating arrangements?"

Sun had pulled the films he'd picked up from LVM and put them on the table, as had Lillie and Hau.

"So, we've got Togepi's Day Out, Singing in the Drizzle, Sharpedo, Sharpedo vs Tyranitar, Charizard's Counterattack and Yamask of the Dead. Thoughts?" Sun asked.

"Sharpedo? I'm not sure the special effects hold up well in that, or Sharpedo vs Tyranitar," Lillie said.

"But Sharpedo is an amazing thriller though," Hau countered. "And the fight scenes are amazing in Sharpedo vs Tyranitar."

"Singing in the Drizzle? I loved that film when I was younger. Me, Gladion, mother and father used to watch it all the time," Lillie said.

"Always wanted to watch it," Sun admitted.

"Sun... You've never watched Singing in the Drizzle?" Lillie asked, her eyes wide in surprise. Sun shook his head.

"That settles it then. We are watching Singing in the Drizzle."

"What about after that?" Sun had asked.

"Yamask of the Dead? Maybe when it's Halloween. Togepi's Day Out?" Lillie had asked.

"Nah, not wanting to watch a baby Pokémon run around a city tonight," Hau had said.

"Guess that leaves Charizard's Counterattack," Sun had shrugged. Lillie had moved to put Singing in the Drizzle on as Poipole, Ribombee and Leafeon had gotten comfortable next to their bowls of food.

"I'll try not to sing along," Lillie had said.

Empathsis on the word "try". Good thing she could actually sing.

 _One iconic musical and three quarters of a action film later..._

A rainbow coloured mist had begun to form around Metagross as he continued his efforts to push back the falling meteor. The mist knocked off the surviving Scizor and Garchomp that had joined him in attempting to stop the meteor from it, sending them flying to safety.

"What's this? Is your Mega Evolution energy resonating with mine? So much willpower here... Will it be too much for us to bear? With that said, though, I can sense something. An emotion... But how? How can we sense each other's emotions? Is it due to the energy that surrounds us? Or is it something more, a sense of understanding only we can obtain due to our Mega Evolutions? ...In spite of the danger, it's not fear I'm sensing... It feels more warm, it's like I'm sensing peace!" Charizard observed. Metagross ignored him, focussing more on pushing the meteor away than what his rival had to say.

"Fascinating. A Steel type such as yourself possesses a heart filled with such warmth, Metagross! But even those with warm hearts such as yours still have the potiential to destroy our home. Why are you blind to this?" Charizard asked.

"I am not blind to the danger, Charizard. I choose to believe that this warmth can be shared with the world. That within each and every Pokémon lies a heart that contains the same warmth that surrounds us now. That is why we must show them this warmth, this light, that resides within our hearts!" Metagross had roared. The rainbow mist had shot up and arced towards the other half of the meteor, pulling the half Metagross had been pushing away from it's current course.

"The meteor has changed it's path! It is no longer on a collision course!" a Scizor had shouted. Unnoticed by the survivors, a small rock had shot up from the rainbow mist and had begun racing around the world, leaving a rainbow trail in it's wake.

"Well, that was as good as I remember it," Sun said as the credits began to roll.

"That was amazing. Lillie, what did you-" Hau began to say, before noticing that Lillie had fallen asleep, and was now lying with her head against the back of the couch.

"How long has she been asleep?" Hau asked Sun.

"I think she fell asleep near when the Braviary had attacked the Porygon2. I'm guessing she exhausted herself singing to the Drizzle film," Sun answered. Hau looked at her for a moment.

"She's adorable, isn't she?" The question caused Sun to snap out of his current state of drowsiness to look at Hau in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Lillie. She's adorable, isn't she?" he asked again. Sun shrugged, too tired to have this conversation. "Yeah, I guess. We should get some sleep too." Hau looks at him before nodding.

"Where are you gonna sleep, Sun?" he asked. I look at the sleeping figure on the other side of the couch.

"Here, I guess. If I move from here, she'll wake up." Hau looks at her for a brief moment before smiling.

"Good idea. See you in the morning." Hau quietly crept away and went down the ladder. Sun looked at Lillie, who was still sound asleep. Sun gently moved himself to the other side of the couch and eased himself into a more comfortable position for him to sleep in while making sure his movements didn't disturb her. He closed his eyes and began counting Mareep, as he had so many times before when he had slept out in the wilds on his journey.

 _Eight hours later..._

Sun woke up with a start. He wasn't sat up against the couch like he was while he was asleep, instead lying on the couch, his head where Lillie had been asleep, a blanket draped over him. Lurching back up to a sitting position, he looked around and saw that Lillie and Ribombee have both vanished. He immediately climbed to his feet and looked around, only to see Poipole flying in front of him.

"Poipole, where are the others?" He asked it. The Ultra Beast stared pointing downwards, indicating that they were downstairs. Sun climbed down the ladder to see that Lillie was sat on one of the couches, brushing Ribombee.

"Hey Sun. Hau just went outside if you are looking for him." Lillie said.

"Thanks. Did you enjoy the films?" Sun asked.

"Yes I did. We need to do this again. And thank you for not disturbing me while I slept, I needed that rest," Lillie says with a giggle.

"No problem. We'll definitely do it again," he told her as he started to walk out of the lab with Poipole in tow. _Wait._ Sun realised. "Lillie, who put the blanket on me?" he asked the girl.

"I did. You looked cold," she explained hastily, looking away from Sun as she did.

"Oh. Well, thank you," Sun told her before walking out of the door.

Sun soon spotted Hau on his way out and made hi way down to the beach where he was skipping rocks.

"Hey Hau. You okay?" He asked. Hau turns around and smiles.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"You tried to talk about Lillie again last night."

"Oh, I did? My bad. I was tired."

"Hau, what's going on? It's the third time this week you've tried to talk about how nice she looks to me," Sun asked now. Hau looked away and sighed.

"It's nothing, Sun," he said. Sun was getting tired of Hau ducking the question and so he sent out Bisharp.

"Bisharp, can you keep an eye out for Kukui for Lillie for a bit? I'm gonna go for a walk with Hau," Sun asked the Sword Blade Pokémon. Bisharp gave a quick salute and marched towards the lab. Sun gestured to Hau to follow him

"Hau, come on. You keep trying to ask me what I think of Lillie. Once I can understand, but you keep doing it. What's really going on?" Sun asked him as they walked.

"...If I tell you, you can't tell Lillie. She'll get really mad if she finds out I told you," he said.

"I swear by Arceus, I won't tell Lillie." Sun promises him. He looked uncertain and reluctant, but began to speak.

"Lillie... She really cares about you. Like, more so than she does for me or Hapu or anyone else. She really likes you. She has done for a long time, Sun. Ever since you rescued her from the Paradise. She doesn't want to tell you because she's afraid that it'll ruin the friendship she has with you. I kept asking because I wanna figure out how you feel about her so I could either help her put this behind her or help her to find a way to tell you," Hau explained. Sun didn't respond. He was stunned. He had suspected that she liked him, but figured he was just reading the signals wrong.

"...Well?" Hau asked. Sun stayed silent, trying to figure out what to say to Hau.

"...Honestly, I always suspected it. As to how I feel... I don't know. I need time to think." Sun admitted. Hau frowns, but nods in understanding.

"What about you?" he asked

"I moved on a long time ago, Sun, and I have Hapu now," he explained, drawing a surprised look from Sun.

"Hapu?" he asked.

"Yeah. We talked about it the day before yesterday and decided to give it a go. You're... actually the first person to know about it," Hau admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh. Well... Congratulations."

Thanks. I'm really happy with her so I hope it works out. But don't worry about me, just look after Lillie, okay?" he told him. Sun nodded as Hau turned around and began to walk away.

"I'll send Bisharp back to you and go and help Lillie clean up. You come back when you are ready, yeah?" Hau set off back towarda the lab as Sun turned away to look out over the ocean. Poipole landed on his shoulder and looks at him with a quizzical look on its face.

"So it was true after all. What do I do now?" he muttered to himself. He looked out over the ocean for a while, deep in thought, until the sounds of footsteps caused him to look next to him, where Bisharp was now stood, saluting him.

"Thank you, Bisharp," Sun told him. He dropped the salute as Poipole flew down to greet him, exchanging a fist bump with the Ultra Beast. As if on cue, all of Sun's other Pokémon popped out of their Poké Balls and turned to look at him, stood in a circle around him.

Poipole did a headspin and held its hands up in happiness at having Sun and the team here in this situation.

Larvesta gazed at Sun with a curious look on his face, wondering why he had a worried look on my face.

Froslass rolled her eyes and foldrd her arms, waiting for Sun to talk.

Bisharp saluted him before returning to a soldier's posture, awaiting orders.

Lopunny gave Sun a quick hug before stepping away, a worried look taking over her face due to his worried look.

Primarina smiled at him, with a kind look in her eyes.

They had all helped Sun fight through the trials. They had fought alongside hm take down Necrozma when it was wreaking havoc on top of Megalo Tower. They had helped him become the first Champion of Alola. They had helped him dtop Giovanni and his Team Rocket.

But now more than ever, Sun needed their help.

 _Guys..._

 _What should I do?_

...

 _Character Ages:_

 _Sun: 14_

 _Lillie: 14_

 _Hau: 14_

 _Lusamine: 43_

 _F_ _aba: 49_

 _Author's Note: So this was originally the point when the ship between Sun and Lillie was starting to become more of the focus. When I originally wrote this, I was on a huge Gundam kick and named the chapter after one of the films from the franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. I took inspiration from a scene in the film and made my own version in a Pokémon style, but I'd highly recommend checking the film out._

 _And new with the Days of Sun remaster comes the Hau/Hapu ship. I decided to add this in as a way of making an upcoming chapter make a bit more sense as to why Sun would ask for Hapu's aid with Hau._

 _As for this chapter explaining the reason why the title is spelt Nu? The main Gundam in Char's Counterattack is the **Nu** Gundam._

 _I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to leave a favourite, a follow and a review telling me what you thought!_


	5. A Show for the Aegis

**A Show For The Aegis**

"Sun!"

The boy in question groaned and rolled out of bed. He had been up training all night and he'd only managed an hour's rest before his mom, Elena, came into his bedroom to talk to him about something. He picked himself up off the floor and sat back on the bed, looking at his mother who had a package in her hand.

"Sun, I know you were trying to sleep, but I just got this package off the Delibird courier. It's addressed to you. Have any of your friends said anything about getting you anything?" she enquired. He shook his head. As far as he could remember, none of them had said anything to him.

"Huh. Well, open it then! Let's see what you've got," Elena said excitedly as she passed him the package. He ripped open the package and found a small box inside.

"A box? What's in the box?" Elena asked. Sun shrugged and opened it. Inside were four tickets and VIP passes. He grabbed a ticket out and looked at the name on it.

"Aegis-blade? What's an Aegisblade?" He asked.

"Zzzt! Aegisblade are a band who originate out of Kalos! They recently released an album called Through the Decidueye and are on tour playing songs from the album!" Rotom sqwarked as he flew out of Sun's bag.

"Huh. Didn't they go on tour supporting the Go Rock Quads a year back?" Elena asked.

"That's right! They had just signed on with Meloetta Records then!" Rotom replied.

"So these are tickets to a concert? Okay, but who'd send me tickets to a concert?" Sun asked. He checked under the VIP passes and found a small note. He pulled the note out and begin to read it.

 _To Sun,_

 _I hope you have enjoyed your time in Alola. I hear you have become the Alolan Champion now? That's great to hear. I was able to purchase these tickets using the money I obtained during my travels in Unova. The company branch here is making a profit and I've been doing the Gym circuit here to promote the company, so don't worry about me or yourself money wise. I'm not sure if you are into this band but it can't hurt to try something new. I will try to visit Alola soon but I can't promise anything. Stay safe over there okay?_

 _Say hi to your mom for me._

 _Love,_

 _Dad_

"...It's from Dad. Huh," Sun muttered. Elena raised an eyebrow.

"He sent you that? I'm not surprised, he did say he was making a fair bit of money on his run of the Unova Gym circuit," Elena commented. Sun yawned and shrugged in response.

"We can talk about it later, I'm gonna go back to sleep," Sun told his mom, lying back down on my bed.

"Okay. Sweet dreams," Mom says as she left the room. Rotom went back into Sun's backpack as the boy began to doze off, exhausted from the training.

 _Six hours later, by Kukui's Labratory..._

Skipping a third rock across the waves, Sun watched it skip twice before plopping in the water. Primarina promptly swam up to where it landed before popping out the water and performing a backflip. Next to him, Poipole does a backflip in imitation while Lopunny watched the trick, a thoughtful look on her face.

 _Who should I go with?_ Sun thought to himself. _Hau and Gladion are busy and I can't ask Lillie to watch the show since she probably doesn't know who Aegisblade are..._

"Hey, cousin!" Sun turned around to see Professor Kukui strolling up towards him, Rockruff plodding along happily next to him.

"Hey, professor. Something wrong?" Sun asked.

"Yeah, you've been standing out here for an hour just looking out over the ocean. What's bothering you?" he asked back. Sun shrugged.

"Just... thinking," he said. Kukui looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "I got some tickets to a show off my father earlier, so I'm debating who to go with. I know Hau's off training again and Gladion just set off back to Johto, so I can't exactly just go with them," Sun explained. Now Kukui looks thoughtful.

"Sun! Professor Kukui! There you guys are!"

Both of them turned to see Lillie walking up towards them, an Alolan Vulpix walking along behind her.

"Lillie! It's good to see you!" Kukui calls out to her.

Sun nodded and smiled. "Hey Lillie. Who's your new friend?" Sun asked, crouching down to meet the Vulpix.

"I caught her outside Mount Lanakila. She's adorable!" Lillie squealed as the Vulpix moved to hide behind her. Sun frowned and looked behind him, where Primarina snuck up and surprised the Vulpix without him noticing.

"I see. Prima, you may need to say sorry to Vulpix, I think you scared her," Sun told her as he stood up to look at her. Primarina lowered her head and let out a sad noise, which was followed by Vulpix responding with a happy yip.

"It's fine, Primarina. She's fine," Lillie said to Primarina. Lopunny crouched down to Vulpix and held out her paw to Vulpix, who shook it with her own paw.

"Figures you'd get on with the Vulpix," Sun joked, earning a giggle from Lopunny.

"So why are we all out here?" Lillie asks. Sun frowned and looked out over the ocean again.

"Sun has gotten tickets to a show, but isn't sure who to go with, what with Hau and Gladion off training," Kukui explained.

"I'll go," Lillie said without hesitation.

A smile unintentionally jumped onto Sun's face as he turned around to look at her. "Just like that? You don't have any training to do? You don't even know what the show is?" Sun asked, surprised at her eagerness.

"Yeah. It's a show, and you want people to go with. It'll be a fun time anyway," she explained. Sun's smile grew wider.

 _Of course she'd be up for it. Why had I doubted her?_

"...Thank you Lillie. That leaves two more," Sun said. Lillie beamed at him while Kukui smirked at the two of them.

"What?" Both of them turned to look at Kukui, which made him smirk even more.

"Nothing." Sun shook his head while Lillie looked between them in confusion. Kukui had recently started to smirk whenever he found out Lillie and Sun were doing something together. Always had some comment along the lines of "Sounds just like me and Burnet when we were younger, yeah!" It was like he found some amusement out of them hanging out. Or he knew what Hau knew, which didn't make Sun feel better about his smirk.

"What about inviting Guzma and Plumeria along? We haven't seen them in a while, so why not?" Lillie suggested, having given up trying to decipher the expressions on Sun and the professor's faces. That did seem like a good idea, plus they seemed like the kind of people who'd enjoy whatever Aegisblade made, so it seemed like the best idea.

"Sure. I'll call them up and let them know. Here." Sun pulled his bag off of his shoulder and rummaged around in it for a moment, before pulling the box out of his bag. He grabbed out the ticket and the VIP pass and passed them to Lillie, who quickly shoved them in her bag.

"Rotom, can you call Guzma please?" Sun asked. Rotom flew out of his bag in response and looked at me.

"Certainly! Zzt zzt!" Rotom's screen flickered as a telephone symbol appeared in place of his face, which wiggled for a short while before the icon changed, showing a video feed of Guzma's room with a little video of Sun, Lillie and Kukui in the corner.

"Yo yo, it's ya boi Guzma." the white haired man answered.

"Guzma, hey. I was wondering if you and Plumeria would be up to coming to see a band called Aegisblade with me and Lillie. I got tickets off my dad and-" Sun's question was cut off by a chortle from Guzma's side of the call.

"Why am I not surprised the princess is going with the hero somewhere yet again?" Plumeria poked her head into the video feed, smirking. Poipole starts giggling as Sun looked at Lillie in confusion, but she's gone bright red and is looking down at her feet for some reason.

"She wanted to go. Something wrong with that?" Sun asked as he looked back at Plumeria and Guzma. Plumeria let out an "Ugh" sound and leaves the view of the video feed.

"Someday, you'll get it. I'm down for seeing this Aegisblade band. Plumes?" Guzma asked the lady next to him.

"Aegisblade? Guz, you know how much I love them. You need to ask?" She responded.

"Cool. We cool, Sun. Drop the tickets at the mansion in Po Town, that's where we are," Guzma promptly cut the call. Sun turned to face Lillie and Kukui.

"Well, there's all the tickets accounted for," Sun said in a chipper tone. Lillie was still bright red and was looking at her feet now, with Lopunny and Vulpix next to her giving her sympathetic looks.

"Something wrong?" Sun asked her. She continued to look down at the sand beneath her feet and shook her head.

"...Wait, why are they back at Po Town?" Kukui asked him.

"Guzma took the place back a few months ago. The whole Team Skull thing became really popular with tourists so they've opened up shop selling Team Skull merch there. It's given the ex Skull members something productive to do and helped bolster Ula Ula's economy, and it's helping to get rid of the stigma that follows those who fail the Island Challenge. They even have a new name, Skull Company," Sun explained.

"Oh yeah, I remember Guzma mentioning he had plans for something like that." Kukui gave Lillie a reassuring pat on the back as Sun pulled out his Ride Pager and called up Charizard, with the Flame Pokémon landing in front of me shortly afterwards. Sun returned his team and looked at her, frowning.

 _Something's bothering her, but she'll tell me when she's ready, I guess,_ Sun thought to himself.

"I'm gonna go drop these off with Guzma. See you guys later." Sun told them as the Charizard began to take flight.

 _A week later, outside the Battle Royal Dome..._

"So, we all here?" Sun asked the group behind him. Guzma was decked out in his usual attire, but wasn't wearing his jacket, with Plumeria instead wearing Guzma's jacket over her usual attire, probably to protect her better from the cold. Even so, she's still shivering. Lillie's wearing a white jacket over her usual attire. It was unusually cold tonight, so Sun had chosen to wrap up warm in a long sleeved top and jacket.

"Yeah, now can we get inside? I'm turning into a Bergmite here!" Plumeria complained. Sun chuckled and nodded, and began to lead them inside, to where a queue was forming. They joined the queue, ignoring the muffled murmurs around them, and promptly spotted some Skull Gruntsat stalls selling Skull merch who they waved at.

Guzma had mentioned that the poor PR guy had wanted them to be called Skull Company Merchandisers until enough of them had them had graffitied his car to change his mind. Apparently, the old stigma that came with the name wasn't worth losing their identity.

The group waited in line until the queue moved along enough that they arrived at the ushers, who checked their tickets.

"Oh, Mr Sun! It's a pleasure to meet you. Right this way, please," they said, leading them along towards the seats where loads of fans were currently stood, waiting for the show to begin. They had taken down the ropes around the ring and the Battle Royal symbol had been replaced with a symbol showing an Aegislash with a shield on its back with a Doublade crossed in front of it.

"Hope they weren't going for an interesting design," Sun joked, earning a disapproving glare from Plumeria.

"At least we here. Hey, Sun, don'tcha know what they are playing?" Guzma asked. Before Sun could say anything, Rotom popped out of his bag and flew over to Guzma.

"Zzt! The song listing is right here!" Rotom promptly pulled up a list of songs for the former Team Skull Leader, now owner and CEO of Skull Company ("Repping the Skull til our coifiers are full, it's Skull Company, yo!" was the group's new motto) to look at.

"Hmph."

"Hey Guz, they got In the Midst of Gyarados on this show!"

"Wait, you know this band?"

"Yeah I do! I love Aegisblade!" Plumeria almost shouted, being stopped by Guzma who had noticed that a few people have spotted them and begun whispering amongst themselves.

"Well, at least one of us knows the band," Sun muttered quietly. Then the lights suddenly go dark.

"Was there a power cut?" Lillie asked. Sun glanced towards the stage, and was about to turn back to the others to ask if everything was alright when suddenly-

"AEGISSSSSSS!"

A roar broke out amongst the crowd as Sun's head snapped around to see where the cry came from-

"DOUUUUU!"

Another cry. Sun could see Plumeria barely keeping herself composed out the corner of his eye as he continued to look around.

 _There._

An Aegislash descended from the roof, carrying a man on its back, supported by a Doublade. The duo gently lowered the man to the ground as he stepped forward towards the microphone.

"AKALA ISLAND! ARE YOU READY?!" the man screamed into the microphone.

"There he is! That's Lyle Stratis, the lead singer!" Plumeria yelled. How Sun had managed to heard her above the sounds of the Dome, he didn't know.

What he did know is that there was suddenly a very painful screeching sound as the man picked up his violin and began playing it, akin to a Magnemite using Metal Sound. Sun and Lillie both covered their ears to try and block it out.

"What is that?" Sun asked.

"He's warming it up!" He heard Plumeria reply.

After a moment or two, the screeching had ended. Both of them took their hands off their ears. Then suddenly, the Doublade split up and began spinning around the Aegislash as the Aegislash held its shield in front of him. Suddenly, Aegislash turned itself around and slotted itself in it's shield, with the shield behind it's face and the Doublade crossed in front of it.

"AEGISSSSSS!" he roared. Pyro went off behind it, causing Sun and Lillie to jump. Suddenly, Lillie spotted the other members of the band emerging from shadows behind Lyle and pointed at them.

"It looks like they are using Shadow Sneak to appear!" Rotom called as Sun looked over to check on Lillie, who seemed fine. "Starting recording!" He shook his head.

Lyle began playing his violin again, this time a more melodic sound came out, which was joined by the sounds from the electric guitars and drums the other band members were playing.

"That's Critical Strike they are playing!" Sun could hear Plumeria shout. Judging from the reactions it seemed like everyone was enjoying it. This seemed like a decent night out at least.

 _Three hours later..._

"...THANK YOU AKALA!" Lyle shouts. Suddenly, all four members disappear back into the shadows along with the Aegislash and Doublade.

"That was... different." Sun observed. Plumeria looked like she'd had the time of her life while Guzma had been enjoying the show, but not to the same extent as Plumeria. Lillie had been quiet through most of it but started having fun towards the end of it.

"Zzt zzt! And I recorded the entire thing!" Rotom sqwarked. Sun grimaced.

"Are you sure that's legal, Rotom?" Lillie asked. Sun shook his head again. For a machine, Rotom could do some stupid things at times.

"We'll have to ask permission off the band," Sun said to them both. We head out the doors only to be stopped by an usher.

"Sun? Can you and your friends come this way please?" Sun promptly flashed a glare at Rotom, figuring they were now in trouble because of him, before nodding to the usher. The usher lead them down some corridors before we arrive outside a room. He quickly peeked his head in before poking back out.

"You can come in."

The group walked into the room where Lyle was seated and the other band members (As far as Sun could recalled, he believed their names were Daniel, Steven (not the Steven from Hoenn) and Mitchell) were packing up.

"So you two are the Alolan Champion and the CEO of Skull Company?" Lyle asked, without looking up from the case he was storing his violin in. Sun nodded, but took a moment to think over his words. He had a bad feeling that if this goes wrong, Plumeria would never forgive him.

"Yes. Do you mind if I ask some questions?"

"Sure. But promise me something first." Sun looked at Lyle in confusion.

"Once your questions are finished, I want a battle. It would be an honour to fight Alola's Champion," Lyle said to Sun, smiling.

 _A Pokémon battle? That should be fun._

"Of course. It would be an honour to fight Aegisblade's lead man," Sun said to him.

"Good. Now, what are your questions?" Sun beckoned Rotom forward.

"My Rotom decided to record your show tonight. As long as it doesn't send the recording to anyone else, would it be allowed to keep it?" Sun asked hesitantly. Lyle's head snapped up with an annoyed look on his face, but he eventually nodded.

"Sure. Just don't do it again, it's against the law."

"Zzzt! Thank you Mr Stratis!" Rotom replied. Lyle looked at Sun as Rotom returned to hovering by Guzma. Sun looked at Plumeria, then back at Lyle.

"My friend here is a huge fan of your band. Would it be okay for her to get a picture with you?" Sun asked. He could hear Plumeria start hopping with excitement behind me. Lyle's annoyed look vanishes and is replaced with a smile.

"Of course." Plumeria calms herself and walks forward to stand with Lyle as Rotom prepares to take a photo.

"Ready?" Plumeria poses. "And... Photo taken!" Rotom called out as a click rang out.

"Thank you so much!" Plumeria almost squealed. Lyle smiled again in response.

"That's all. Now, you wanted a match?" Sun asked. Lyle nodded and stood up, his smile vanishing.

"We don't have a lot of time, so here's the rules: one Pokémon only, first to be hit loses," he told him. Sun nodded and stepped back.

"Aegislash, rock the stage!" Lyle called oit as he released the Royal Sword Pokémon.

"Bisharp, go!" Sun shouted as he released the Sword Blade Pokémon. He turned and saluted Sun before adopting a grim look as he turned back to face Aegislash.

"Aegislash, King's Shield!" Lyle called. Multiple blue hexagons appear in front of Aegislash's shield.

"Bisharp, Protect!" Sun called. Bisharp surrounds itself with a green shield.

"Smart. Aegislash, Shadow Sneak!" Lyle ordered. Aegislash unsheathed and sent its shadow crawling forward.

"Bisharp, Sucker Punch!" Sun ordered. Bisharp darted forward and dodged Shadow Sneak by stepping to the side before smashing its hand into Aegislash's sword, knocking it back. Bisharp bowed to Aegislash and Lyle, before walking over and pressing the button on his Poké Ball, knowing his work was done.

"Well, you made contact first, so you win. Well played," Lyle said as he extended a hand forward. Sun returned Bisharp's Poké Ball to his belt and turned to him.

"First turn King's Shield was a smart play, though," Sun admitted as he shook Lyle's hand. The door opened a bit and the usher popped his head in.

"Mr Stratis, there are more fans waiting when you are ready," he said.

"Can't keep them waiting. It was nice to meet you all," Sum said. The group walked out the room and start heading for the exit past the scores of fans waiting to meet Aegisblade.

 _A few minutes later..._

"Sun... thanks." Guzma mumbled behind Sun as they walked away from the arena.

"What for?"

"For bringing us along. Plumes' gonna be happy 'bout this for a long time to come," he says. Sun smiled in response as Plumeria walked along, talking to Rotom about the band excitedly. They reached the end of the path.

"So, we heading our seperate ways?" Sun asked.

"Yeah, we better get back to Po Town. Thanks for the day out, Sun!" Plumeria called out as she and Guzma walked off.

"Well, they enjoyed themselves," Sun said as he turned to Lillie, who looked exhausted.

"Yeah..." she responds. Sun frowned.

"Come on, I booked a room at the Pokémon Centre before you all arrived. We can stay there for tonight." Lillie nodded and they both walked into the centre. Sun checked in first with Nurse Joy, and then they set off to their room.

"You think that Lyle guy's violin was a Stradivarius?" Sun asked as he sat down on one bed while Lillie sat on the other. Sun set his bag down and his team's Poké Balls by his bed. He looked up and saw that Lillie has that worried look on her face again.

"Is everything alright, Lillie?" Sun asked.

"It's nothing, Sun..." she replied. Sun shook my head.

"Clearly it's not nothing." Lillie sighed, knowing he wasn't going to leave it be.

"It's just... I see Hau and Gladion training to become better trainers. I know Hau's hoping to impress Tapu Koko and become Kahuna of Melemele once his grampa, Hala, steps down, and Gladion's looking to become Johto Champion. I see Guzma and Plumeria running Skull Company and making a profit. I can see Hapu working to please Tapu Fini as the Kahuna of Poni Island. And yet I don't know what I want to do. All I can do is follow you..." Lillie trailed off and her cheeks turn red again.

"You are saying that like I don't follow you when you take the lead. Remember Poni Island? That was all you, Lillie. I followed your lead, and it helped save your mother. It's okay to not have a future planned out yet, you've still got time to think about it," Sun told her. She still looked uncertain.

"Remember what we talked about on Exeggutor Island? I told you I didn't know what I wanted to do next after the championship battle. I still don't. I've been here defending my title and wandering the islands while everyone else goes about following their dreams. Guzma and Plumeria have Skull Company. Gladion's doing the Gym circuit in Johto to get stronger. Hau's training on Poni in the hope he can be picked as Kahuna once Hala steps down. Hapu's working as the Kahuna of Poni Island. And here I am, sat in a room after a concert with no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow while my father explores Unova and all of my friends are off working towards their dreams. So don't worry about not knowing what you want to do, because I don't either," Sun explained to her.

"Regardless of what we do, everyone will support us. So take your time to think about it, Lillie," Sun finished. Lillie looked at him now.

"...Thank you," she said, with uncertainty still written on her face.

"Lillie-" Suddenly, Rotom flew in front of my face with a sqwark and a message written on his screen.

"Oh yeah, need to do that thing." Sun muttered to himself. Lillie looked at him in confusion as he quickly picked his bag back up and dug through the contents before pulling out a box and setting the bag back down.

"What is that?" she asks.

 _A few hours prior, in Kukui's Labratory..._

 _Sun? Do me a favour please?" Kukui asked._

 _Sun held up his hand to Poipole to tell it to stop practicing Fell Stinger for a moment._ _"Yeah, sure." he said._

 _Kukui picked up a present from his desk_. _"Give this to Lillie after the show finishes and say it's off you. It's her birthday today and it'll make her day," he told Sun._

 _"Okay..." Sun said as he put the box in his bag._

 _"If she asks, say you got it from a stall in Konikoni and that you thought it'd go with her outfit," Kukui explained._

 _Sun nodded._ _"Okay. Poipole, back to practicing Fell Stinger!" he order_ ed.

I _n the present day..._

"Sun?" Lillie asks, a worried look on her face.

"What? Oh, yeah, happy birthday Lillie," Sun said, holding the present out to her. The worried look vanishes and is replaced by a huge smile.

"You remembered!" she says happily. She quickly grabbed the present and opened it. Inside is a lei.

"A lei?" Lillie asks, picking it up gently.

"Zzt! It is a lei from a Comfey! Comfey are known to give their flowers to people they like! So I guess Sun's being like a Comfey! Zzt zzt!" Rotom explains as Lillie puts it on her head. Inwardly, Sun sighed. Classic Rotom.

"...I'm not sure if it's true that Comfey do that, but I saw it at a stall in Konikoni and I thought you'd look good with it. Plus it goes with your outfit," Sun said lamely, scratching the back of his head. Rotom had made this a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

"Really?" Lillie asked as she took it back off and placed it back in the box it came from.

"Yeah." Sun said. Without warning, Sun found himself getting tackle hugged by a flying Lillie, sending them both flying into the wall next to the bed he was sat on.

"Woah! You okay?" Sun asked, but the impact seemed to have had no effect on Lillie as she was babbling out thank yous and how much it made her happy. Sun sighed and patted her back. She liked it, at least. He looked at Rotom, who giggled before returning to the bag.

"...And I was worried I was annoying you by wanting to go with you to see the show because Plumeria made a joke the other day about how I'm always going where you are going and-" Sun suddenly remembered a film he had used to watch where a man had been reunited with an old friend and used a hug to comfort them when they were feeling unsure about themselves.

 _It couldn't hurt to try, right?_

So he promptly cut off Lillie's babbling with a hug. Clearly she wasn't expecting that since her glomp just eased up significantly. She turned to face him.

"Listen to me. Don't ever think you are annoying me. I'm more than happy for you to go with me wherever we go. I mean, I followed you through an island filled with powerful Pokémon despite us knowing nothing more than some old legends that related to the island. I'll happily go anywhere with you, you know that right?" Sun said to her. He turned around so that it more comfortable for her to be hugged.

For he knew what he wanted to say now.

"No matter where. We're a team, we'll put on a show for the ages no matter where we end up, okay? I wouldn't trade you for the world. You mean too much to me for me to want to go anywhere with anyone else," Sun told her. She looked at him again.

"Sun..." Lillie said. He knew what she was going to say.

"I know, Lillie," Sun said as he moved his forehead against hers. It's not what most guys would've done in this situation, but it was something Sun was more comfortable with, and Lillie understood the intention, and the words that it said for him. She returned the gesture, promptly reapplied her glomp to him and started crying. Sun didn't know why she was crying, so he did what he saw that guy do in that film and held her closer.

 _I'll have to talk to Kukui and Mom about this when we get back._

Eventually, the tears subside, and she gets her breath back.

"Sun..." she whispers, her voice hoarse from the sobbing. "I-I don't want to make you u-uncomfortable, but c-can I stay here with you?"

Sun was confused. "Of course you can, you've got a bed too," he answers.

Lillie shook her head. "No, he... here. With... your arms," she explained, cringing at her words.

 _Oh._ Sun realised what she meant.

"Y-yeah." The two shifted over to rest their heads on the pillow. "Are you comfortable?" he asked her.

"Yeah. T-thank you, Sun," she told him, wrapping her arms around him and gently snuggling up to him, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Sun didn't respond, but wrapped his arms around her. He wasn't sure how he was going to sleep like this, but at the very least, it felt nice, having her this close.

 _Lillie... We've got this. We're a team. Always remember that,_ he thought to himself as he rested his chin on her head and closed his eyes.

...

 _Character Ages:_

 _Sun: 14_

 _Lillie: 15_

 _Plumeria: 16_

 _Guzma: 18_

 _Author's Note: Apologies about this taking so long to upload, 5000 words is a lot to change into third person from first person, especially when you have uni assignments due._

 _I added in the section at the end about Lillie wanting to stay in Sun's arms because I thought it'd be a cute moment between them._

 _Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to leave a favourite, a follow and a review telling me what you think!_


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